The Fugitive
by abc27
Summary: A Naruto centric fic. A huge risk of war is threatening to take over the Elemental Nations. The child of prophecy once again takes charge against this new enemy, but things don't go exactly as planned. Rating may go up later. [Do not own the cover image. Belongs to the respective artist.]


**(AN):** Do not own both Naruto or Fairy Tail. They belong to their respective owners. I apologize in advance for any errors or typos.

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 **0: Prologue**

 **[[[The Fugitive]]]**

"It's been four months since it appeared, you know."

"Four months since _we_ have been aware of that abnormality," A gray haired man spoke, looking at the stubborn Raikage. This man was wearing a white colored robes over his attire, along with a hat. His attire was similar to what the third Hokage used to wear, and his face was covered up to his nose by a mask.

"The Hokage is right. Who knows how long it has been since that strange portal has been active," A deep voice spoke to the left of the Hokage. This man had red hair, along with dark circles around his eyes. He also had the word 'love' written on his forehead. "It was only on chance that we came across that. We wouldn't have known anything about it hadn't the farmer who first came across it upon chance decided to report to the officials. Who knows who already decided to venture into it?"

"What Kazekage said is correct," The only Lady Kage present at the round table nodded. "And, it makes sense why no one has noticed it till now, seeing as it is present in over one of the locations that the last great ninja war took place."

"And it also doesn't help that the place was also where Kaguya first emerged," The sixth Hokage, Kakashi sighed as others stilled at the word Kaguya.

And understandably so. Otsusuki Kaguya was by far the biggest threat they had ever faced. Although it was only Kakashi and his team along with one of the war criminals and main instigators of the past war, Uchiha Obito who had faced her, they still understood what kind of a threat she was based on the details and report that Kakashi provided.

"Do you mean to say, this could be in a way related to her?" The eldest of all the kage present there looked pensive, looking at the Hokage.

"We can't cross out that possibility." Kakashi looked over at the third Tsuchikage. "Kaguya's powers were terrific, no doubt. She was able to freely pass between the dimensions, although that isn't all that impressive compared to her being able to summon entire dimensions on a whim."

The Kazekage crossed out his arms, "So, you are saying this could just be one of her portals that got left behind by her?"

"Like I said, that can be a possibility," Kakashi placed his arms onto the round table and nodded at Shikamaru behind him. The lazy shinobi walked around the table and handed several copies to each kage and their attendees as Kakashi continued. "And, since she was so dangerous, we could not afford to neglect this possibility. So, I asked Sasuke to investigate this as this coincided with his own mission and these were the reports he sent back."

"The Uchiha brat, huh?" Gaara looked at the Raikage at the mention of Sasuke before A took the file handed to him. He opened it and started glancing it, "Can we really take his word on this, Hokage?"

Kakashi blinked and turned towards the Raikage knowing full well who he was talking about. He could understand the Raikage's concern since Sasuke was notorious at the time and had attacked the first five kage summit that had taken place after a long time. Plus, the Raikage also ended up losing his arm in it, so it wasn't hard to know that A still held some form of a grudge. Albeit it was harmless now.

But, he stuck by his old student. "Sasuke is the only one that could be trusted with this mission. He has the rinnegan capable of dimension hopping and is strong enough to take care of anything on the other side. I trust him."

Kakashi paused as the Raikage gave a reluctant nod after a moment, showing that he respected his decision. He then looked over at the others as he continued, "When I first saw them, I didn't believe as well. But, he sent a few samples back and trust me, it was hard to believe but this is the truth."

"Hokage," Mei, the fifth Mizukage interrupted, not taking her eyes of the white paper in her hands and continued reading the reports with a wary face. She lifted her eyes from it disbelievingly and parted her lips with a hesitant expression. "…tell me one thing. Was Kaguya capable of creating life too?"

"I know Old Sage of six paths could do it. And, Naruto recreated my eye when he was given the help of the sage." Kakashi informed, looking in between the kages and narrowed his eyes. "Regardless of whether these life forms which are identical to us were created by her, all of the materials left behind by her also point out the existence of parallel dimensions. I think it's safe to say that we aren't the only people."

Silence reigned in the Kage summit as each kage looked troubled after Kakashi's declaration. And, the reports of the Uchiha indicated the same as well so it crossed out the possibility of them being a hunch.

"…Is Naruto aware of all this?" Gaara spoke after a long time, breaking the silence. "This is an important matter. I would have assumed he would have tagged along with you."

"No, he didn't because I had him take a break from his shinobi duties. Only Shikamaru, and a few others know this. We only came to know about this recently and we didn't want to believe it until we received the reports back."

"And, you investigated something as important as this alone, over our backs." The old and senile Tsuchikage pointed out, a bitter smile crossing his lips. "You have grown pretty shrewd, Hokage."

"It was my plan to keep this quiet until we obtained concrete proof." Shikamaru stepped to stand beside his Hokage. "And, now that we did, we have disclosed it. Naruto, who is back in the village and a few other important high ranking officials of each major village will be sent the report. We wish to avoid panic, so we are releasing the reports slowly and only to a limited bunch."

Gaara couldn't help but feel uneasy as the meeting proceeded. What if like they had been made aware of the other side, they too were aware of them? They had spent so many years fighting among themselves, was it even possible to find some sort of truce or a common ground with the people from the other world without any use of arms?

He could only wonder on that for now, as his mind went involuntarily to what Naruto would think when he comes to know of this. Maybe, he would reach a solution that they all could agree on. Something that they all would miss.

After all, he was the hero of the Fourth great ninja war and the child of prophecy.

 **[[[The Fugitive]]]**

The pan chirped lightly, the oil cracking as a groggy blonde made his way into the living room. A yawn escaped his lips, as he sat at the table and started rubbing his eyes, slight drool still present at the corners of his mouth.

"Good grief, it was about time you woke up Naruto."

He stilled, blinking slowly and laughed awkwardly at his team mate. "Hehe, good morning to you too, Sakura-chan."

All signs of drowsiness was lost immediately, as he rubbed the back of his head at the tick mark gained on Sakura's forehead and sweated a little. She glared for a while longer, before a soft sigh escaped her lips and she got back to cooking whatever she was doing.

 _"…The massive and mysterious cracks only started getting wider according to our latest reports. The panic among the crowd has yet to subside, even though the five kage summit and their assurance eased the masses a bit at the start. But, these meetings have been going on for some time now. The crowds are starting to grow uneasy and are starting to question just what…"_

A female voice reported over one of the latest invention around, a medium sized rectangular box placed at a few feet away from him, in front of the moderate sized couch. He spared a glance at the static screen before he got distracted, as aroma of something being cooked filling up his nostrils and his stomach grumbling a bit.

"Are you cooking ramen, Sakura-chan?" He frowned a bit as he closed his eyes and continued sniffing. "Please tell me it is ramen because it doesn't smell like it."

"You should be grateful I am even cooking for you, honestly," The female seemed frustrated, and her tone made Naruto instantly cease as she continued exasperatedly, "And, for the last time, eat something healthy. I bet half of your body is made of ramen."

He watched her pick up a porcelain plate from his shelf, as he laid his arms on the table, "I would say almost 70% but yeah. I don't remember having any ingredients in my home though other than instant ramen."

"I noticed, and I knew how much care you gave for stuff like this so I brought them in advance this morning." He looked to his side at her snide remark as she turned around. "Would you prefer an omelet or scrambled eggs?"

"I would like to say ramen."

"Too bad, I didn't make it." She laid out freshly cooked scrambled eggs along with bacon, steam hovering over them.

His mouth was watered immediately as he was hungry and grabbed chopsticks as soon as the plate was set and dug into it regardless of it not being ramen. "Thank you for the food!"

Sakura had a small smile of her own, watching her teammate eat the food without any fuss. Even with all the complaints he had regarding ramen and how she was terrible at first, it seemed like she was getting better at cooking.

Naruto knew his teammate was cooking for him because she wanted to help him with his recovery, even though he felt his health worsening when she started. He often teased her saying that she was only helping him because she needed a guinea pig to test her cooking, but even he had to agree; she was improving.

"Wow, Sakura-chan. You are getting better at this." Naruto smiled, looking up from his bowl and noticed her getting her bag. A frown pulled his brows, "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I already ate. And, I am getting late for the hospital."

He blinked and looked at the clock, before back at her with his jaw hanging, "Why didn't you wake me up?! We could have eaten together!"

Sakura only folded her arms and turned around as she got to the door. "Believe me, I tried, future Hokage dono." Her lips tugged in the corners as she opened the door knob, and looked at his wailing self. "Don't worry, Naruto. Take it easy, you are on a break anyway so make the best use of it. Ah also, don't forget to visit the hospital later for your daily checkup. And, leave the dishes in the sink, thank you."

The door shut behind Sakura with a soft click, leaving before Naruto could say anything. He continued sulking as he took another bite and stared at the shut door.

"Damn, not fair…"

 **[[[The Fugitive]]]**

His bandages against his chest stretched a bit, causing him to wince when he folded his arms behind his head. His last mission was barely completed, as he made a fatal error of underestimating his foes since he was the one who was constantly used to being underestimated. Kurama refused to heal him, so that the pain would serve him as a reminder until he learnt from his mistakes.

So for now, he was left with only what aid any normal person could get, and he wholeheartedly appreciated his healing powers when he came to realize what a normal person would go through while recovering. Though, it was taking him quite some time to recover and as a result he was laid off missions for a while, and was given a break; a nice breather after all the gruesome missions Kakashi-sensei put him through.

The lively streets of Konoha seemed a little busier than usual. He couldn't believe how many people were there in the market. It was so noisy that anything a person would say could easily get drowned by it. Luckily, the street vendors had such practice in working in such places, and could even hear over this noise. As well as contributing to half of the shouting.

Naruto had reformed his looks, as he had changed his attire compared to what he wore when he was still a genin. He exchanged his bright orange jumpsuit for something darker, but it still had traces of orange to quench his thirst for the color. His hair had grown longer, though he had initially sported short hair but with little to no attendance for himself, the mane had grown messier and untamed.

His blue eyes, hidden partially by the messy bangs looked up at the clouds looming over their heads. Konoha rarely had cloudy weather, for it was the heart of the Land of Fire, so it seemed a bit strange. But, the crowd didn't seem to mind it as people had taken necessary precautions in case of rain.

He shrugged after a moment and continued his stroll through the market. Most of his friends were busy, or on away missions so he was mostly left to himself. Even the lazy Shikamaru had to go to Hidden Cloud village accompanying Kakashi sensei for the conference, but with how long the meetings have been going on, he wouldn't be surprised if the lazy genius returned home and declares that he got engaged with Gaara's older sister, seeing as she would be present at the summit as well.

Everything was so undisturbed and felt right. A good change after such a horrible war. They were still recovering from the scars of the war two years ago, but at least everyone looked forward to building a stable and peaceful future. Though, it was still strange for Naruto to have so many people, especially girls, stop and greet him, gift him and even ask for autographs whenever he strolled through the streets.

His gaze looks around at the crowd, a small smile gracing his lips before a relatively younger fan stopped him. A kid; a small girl holding a red balloon in her hand and was accompanied by a beautiful young woman in purple yukata, who looked in her late twenties.

"Pardon us, Naruto-san. My daughter is a huge fan of yours and she wished to see you." The older woman smiled at him as he crouched and ruffled the kid's hair, a grin pulling at his lips.

"A huge fan of mine, huh? What is your name, kid?"

"It's Akari, Naruto nii-san!" The girl had a bubbly smile, her smile growing wider at her hero, who had recognized and was taking his time to talk to her.

"She was sick until recently, and was discharged just today," The woman, who was probably the kid's mother spoke behind her. "She wanted to meet her idol so we promised her that once she got well. We were lucky we found you so early."

Naruto looked up at the taller woman, "Oh, is that so?"

"Yes, Naruto nii-san!" The girl's bright reply caused him to look back at her. "I never gave up. That's your ninja way, isn't it? Even the doctors said it would be close and that it would depend on my will to survive. I never gave up, because that is what you would do!"

His eyes widened ever so slightly at hearing his ninja way from a small child and felt something warm inside him expand at her answer. At the younger girl's ebullience. His head dropped a bit and his bangs covered his eyes. A dumb smile was put on his face as he closed his eyes for a few moments before lifting his head and grinned at her.

"You made big brother Naruto very proud, Akari-chan!" He ruffled her hair once again and promptly took a three-pronged kunai from his pouch and held it delicately in front of her as both daughter and mother looked confused, glancing at each other. "This is one of the kunais that my father left behind. They are limited and rare since it is custom made and it's a trade mark weapon of the Fourth Hokage. I want to give this to you as a memento, Akari-chan. Congrats on your recovery."

"Ahh, the kunai used by the Lord Fourth!" The girl's eyes sparkled as she grabbed and held it high in air, staring at it with such innocence that Naruto couldn't help but feel like a proud old man.

Maybe, this is how he would feel when he would have a family of his own. Towards his own children. Even though Akari wasn't blood, he would do anything to protect her innocence and smile. Not just Akari, but all the kids so that they would never have to go through what he went. So that the new generation would never feel the loneliness and despair. The whole village was his family and he would make sure to protect it.

He felt himself reminded of his goals. Of the goals he had promised to achieve. He pushed himself of his knees and fondly looked at the girl who was jumping around with enthusiasm and eagerly showed her new gift to her mother who was smiling at her before the older woman turned towards him once her daughter was once again ogling over the kunai.

"But, is this alright-?"

"Its fine," Naruto casually waved the mother off who was looking a bit concerned at probably having received something rare and precious from the late forth Hokage. He patted Akari's head gently once more. "Stay strong, and never give up once you decided something, Akari-chan."

Small set of white teeth were flashed at him, "I won't!"

He gave a small smile in return, "Take care and see you around, Akari-chan."

"Bye Naruto nii-san!"

He chuckled and was on his way, his hands in his pockets. This was how it should be- This was what he and the rest had fought so hard for. The countless sacrifices and deaths to secure a peaceful future. A next generation that would not be influenced by the hatred filled past.

Countless people crossed him, his feet taking him to the main market street.

 _'I should probably head to the hospital now before Sakura-chan gets-'_ His eyes widened as he felt a weird tingling, like someone has been constantly observing him ever since he got out of the house. Since he was in his own village, he didn't feel the need to be on guard so it took him long to sense the sharp gaze on him. His azure orbs immediately shifted towards an empty alleyway in between two fruits vendors ahead of him. He observed an individual with a strange purple colored clothing, shirt able to cover the top of his head. And, silver eyes met his gaze.

Naruto managed to spot out silver bangs beneath the hood as he tried discerning the features of the individual before him, "Hey! You!"

The man didn't stop, but with how busy the crowd and noisy it was, the mysterious youth probably didn't hear, disappearing into the dark confines of the alleyway. Naruto strode through the crowd as quickly as he could, slipping past them and blinked once he reached the entrance of the street.

 _'Where did he disappear to?'_

 _.._

"What is that?!"

Before he decided to try fishing the mysterious man out, he heard a shout from the crowd in the street and many gasps causing him to look at them. They were all dumbfounded, mouth hanging open and the busy as a bee hive crowd had gone dead silent, their gazes fixed above them. He followed their gaze, and felt a drop slide down his temple.

"What is in the world are those…?"

He had to rub his eyes for a moment to get to terms with the fact that what he was witnessing was not a dream or worse, a nightmare, but the reality. Creeping out through the dense clouds were gigantic figures of varied shapes, appearing to be runes of some sort. They gleamed bright amidst the dark, sunshine deprived sky as their shadows were imprinted upon the clouds hovering above them.

He gathered his thoughts as quickly as he could and composed himself by taking deep breaths. There was panic brimming out all of a sudden in the crowd surrounding him. Although he had seen his fair share of massive entities, the war hero didn't come across such peculiar aerial monstrosity in his life. Upon close observation, he noticed that there were two types of figures, one being a cluster of concentric circles which had diverse patterns for the circumference and a rhombus with similar features.

The sweat bead reached down his chin, as he ran out of the alleyway onto the main market street. Two vertical slits forming in his iris along with orange mark around the corner of his eyes. He could feel tremendous amounts of energy being gathered high in the air, quickly, and it felt… different compared to chakra. And, he doubted that it was simply shining to act as a temporary shining light source on a cloudy afternoon.

There was no time to act as the mass of crystal light seemed to have reached its apex. Few more clouds parted, giving it the impression to anyone who looked at the white hunk of smoke as if seeing hands folded with utmost devotion. Like a prayer for the sacred light.

A separate set of hands formed the clone sign.

The scene at the market seemed to have frozen, and everyone were a close resemblance to statues as heavens roared and it was all over before anyone could react any further.

The sky flashed its teeth, before a bellow escaped its mouth and devoured the throng below it.

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 **(AN):** And done. An idea that had been looming over in my head for some time now. I am taking over the fic that my sis had written, but I am not letting it remain the same as one of the other fics that I follow was put for adoption. It was a shame that 'Shinobi among Mages' was once again left for adoption; so I was encouraged to write this one. Also, one of the rants put up in one of the crossover categories made me write a Naruto centric fic earlier than intended.


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